Meet your maker: Gemma Patford

With a background in pattern-making, designer Gemma Patford is no
stranger to pulling things apart and piecing them back together.
Working from her home studio in Melboune's Brunswick, she fashions
rope into softly sculpted bowls, market baskets and wall-hangings,
then dip-paints the assorted forms in bright neon and popping
hues.

How did you get into homewares?
I've always been making. I used to run a fashion label but I found
that limiting. The baskets came around just from fooling around
with what I had in the studio, experimenting with different
ropes.

You buy your materials in very small runs.
Why?
I like each design to be completely different to the one before.
If they're all sitting together on a table, I want them looking
like a family, but never exactly the same. Buying my rope in
smaller quantities ensures uniqueness. Hopefully the same person
can pick up two of the same style, and fall in love with both for
different reasons. Gemma Patford rope
vessels from $45.